Centre for Performative Teaching and Learning (CPTL)

 

To be able to think about teaching as an artful undertaking, to conceive of learning as having aesthetic features, to regard the design of an educational environment as an artistic task – these ways of thinking about some of the commonplaces of education could have profound consequences for redesigning the practice of teaching and reconceiving the context in which teaching occurs. (Elliot W. Eisner)

 

Plans are underway to set up a  Centre for Performative Teaching and Learning (CPTL) in Cork, an initiative which has arisen from a collaboration between the Departments of German and Drama & Theatre Studies at University College Cork and Roundhouse Theatre Company, Cork.

The view of teaching as a science has dominated educational thinking for more than a century. CPTL, however, guided by the notion of a balanced curriculum, sets out to promote a different understanding of teaching as an art – through various activities, including workshops, conferences, publications and special in-service training courses.

The Centre strongly upholds that Education can learn from the Arts; and vice versa. It acknowledges the important contributions the different art forms, including Theatre, Music, Dance, Visual Art and Film, can make to Education. It is also aware of how artists and practitioners can become inspired by working in an educational context.

In terms of its research activities, CPTL is closely associated with SCENARIO, a bilingual (English – German), peer-reviewed Online Journal ( http://scenario.ucc.ie ) which aims at establishing innovative connections between the Performing Arts and Foreign & Second Language Education.

Our first event on October 1st and 2nd, 2011, will explore what foreign language teachers can learn from theatre artists. More detailed information will be available from CPTL's Facebook Group Page.